Protection of Children (Online Pornographic Material) Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2023-11-16
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Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

When Homer Simpson ran for mayor, he ran on a motto of "Why can't somebody else do it?" That motto is all over the speech the Minister has just made. Instead of taking this serious issue and delivering on it, she stated it had been outsourced to Coimisiún na Meán, which is to create codes and guides in the future. When we try to work out what those codes or guides are, it is extremely nebulous, to be honest. Even the Sinn Féin speaker stated she was still unsure of how exactly Coimisiún na Meán will implement the particular change we need here.
Rather than showing the urgency we need to address the horrendous increase in the level of sexual assault in society, the Government is outsourcing this to Coimisiún na Meán or the EU to come up with something in the future. I often think that if we were to get rid of the future tense from the Government's language, it would have very little to say. The Government has been in place for four years and Fine Gael has been in government for 12 or 13 years at this stage. The three parties in government have been around government for a long time, so this issue is not brand new. I have a major difficulty with the nebulous role that Coimisiún na Meán has and the fact that it-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-11-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:24+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-11-16